California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



give ghch^oiinfi 



$1.50 Per Ar^qurri. 



I'UELI.-HEL> MONTHLY BY THi; 



CAL. AGRICULTUEIST PUB. CO. 



S. HARRIS HERKING, Editor. 



OFFICE:— Over tlio San .lose Savings 

 Bank, Balb:it-li''!4 Itnilfliii*;, Santa 

 C'lara Street, near First, San tTotse. 



SPECIAL TEEMS TO AGEUTS. 

 RATES OF ADVERTISING: 



Per one Column $12 00 Per Mouth 



*' half Column GOO " 



*' fourth Column 3 00 " *' 



" ei-^hth Column a 00 " " 



" Bixteuuth Cuhimn 1 00 '* " 



B^ "We are determined to adhere to our resolu- 

 tion to adnii* none but worthy business advertis- 

 in^' in our eolumne, and to ki;ep ckar of patent 

 medicine, liquor, and otber advertisements of 

 doubtful influence. 



The large oircTilation, the desirable class of 

 readers, and the neat and convenient form, rend- 

 ers this Journal ^ choice medium fur reaching 

 the attentiuu of the masses. 



Notice to Eastern Advertisers and 

 Advertising Agencies. 



ifc^ Hereafter no proposition for advertising 

 in this journal will be entertained without pay 

 in advance. Our published rates are the stand- 

 ard for all. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



An excellent variety of coutribu- 



tioiiK may be found in tliia month's issue. It 

 takes all hands to .make a f^ood paper, and we 

 never feel prouder than when we can send 

 out a unmbe!- filled with good articles from 

 the pens of our worthy correspondents. 



What eau be Joue with the mining 

 debris that is now filling the beds of rivers 

 and causinsj the water to submerge farms and 

 ruin them with a deposit of mud, is a rjues- 

 tion that the agricultural editor of the" Re- 

 cord-Union" undertakes to solve. He would 

 build dams in many places in the lower moun- 

 tain ravines, and letlhe sediment make acres 

 of level groun<l for cultivation. Also, by con- 

 ducting it upon the low tule lands, would con- 

 vert them into the licheet alluvial farms. We 



judge these suggestions lobe sound and prac- 

 lical. 



Illustrated Temperance Lectures. 



Mrs. Carrie F. Young has been lecturing in 



,San Jose and vicinity during the i)ast month 



with e.\cellent success. Although the subjects 



of tempci'ance and lieallh ai-o old, and by 



many thought to be worn threadbare, Mrs. 



Young seems to be in such demand that every 



o:ie who hears her once wants to again, and 



wants his friends to hear. Kvery school dis 



Irict has sent a call, and if Mrs. Young is not 



worn out before she gets a\v,vy, maybe souje 



oulside of Santa Clara county will have the 



1. privilege of listening to her earnest and in- 



I structive talks to the people, for then- good. 



|Long may her voice be heard in the land! 



Vineyards, vtpon rich, moi.st soils, 

 will be likely to make an immense growth of 

 wood this season and produce inferior fruit. 

 Too nuich moisture in the soil isnot favorable 

 to the production of line grapes. We advise 

 letting the grass and weeds grow a while to 

 absorb moisture from the ground. The grapes 

 will be all the better for it. Better than this 

 would be the raising of a crop of some kind of 

 vegetables in the vineyard. To guard against 

 nnldew, which is bound to be prevaleut this 

 moist season, use sulphur freely. Put it ou 

 the blossoms and on the fruit as soon as fairly 

 set, and even when half grown. A free use of 

 sulphur in many localities will be absolutely 

 necessary to insure good grapes. 



The Cminlry Gentleman publishes, in 

 its editorial notes, the followiiig: 



A C.VLIFOKNH TiiANSiCTioN. — Of course 

 we should not publish the following state 

 ment if the name of the writer were nut 

 known to us: "'Kds. 'Country Gentleman' — 

 h(ujie time during 1S74, you published seve 

 ral letters from a correspondent in California 

 who had a good deal to say about alfalfa. 

 He stated in one of his letters that pure seed 

 could be obtained from a Col. \V'arren, 32U 

 C'lay street, San Francisco. In January, 

 1S75, I wrote a letter of inouiry to the Col- 

 onel, asking the best way of shipment for 50 

 pounds altalfa seed. I received a reply signed 

 Warren &, Co., staling that for $1:J "iu gold 

 they would send me by mail, postage paid, 12 

 bags of four pounds each. I iinmidiately 

 mailed them a liuney order for the amount, 

 and have not heard Irom Warren &, Co. since. 

 I wrote two letters of inquiry to them, but 

 they did not see til to reply. I received a 

 statement from the postmaster of 8an Fran- 

 cisco, llia.t the order was presented by the 

 hrm mentioned, and paid. 



" If Messrs. Warren 6c Co., will only re- 

 turn the amount of that money order, I won't 

 write them another word aljout alfalfa, but 

 invest it at once iu red clover. — [P., Cleve- 

 land, Ohio." 



And from another correspondent the fal- 

 lowing : 



" To Come Down a Peg.— I have .an ac- 

 count of another 'California transaction' to 

 give you. Acting on the information concern- 

 ing alfalfa referred to by your Cleveland 

 (Ohio) correspondent, ou p.age 1G9, January 

 i'J, ll^ro, I forwarded to Col. Warren, editor 

 of the 'California Farmer,' a postoffice money 

 order tor $G, begging him to send me alfalfa 

 seed by mail, according to the terms named 

 by Ml-. Armstrong, but in case the price had 

 advanced, then to send the money's worth. 

 Hearing nothing from Mr. Warren, February 

 21st I wrote hiiu again. No answer being re- 

 ceived. I wrote to make inquiries of Mr. 

 Ariiistong. He replied promptly, informing 

 iiie he had visited the 'Farmer' office in San 

 Francisco; that they acknowledged i he re- 

 ceipt of the money, asserted seed had been 

 sent, but that by mistake a wrong address 

 must have been made. However, they pro- 

 mised to send another package, and to com. 

 peusate for the delay and error to add a valu- 

 able collection of Pacilic Coast seeds. 

 Meantime, I bad asceitaiued from the San 

 Francisco postmaster that the order liad been 

 paid on a date given, and fioni the postmaster 

 of Champaign, 111., that there was no other 

 postolfice of that name in the territory of the 

 Ltnited States. But I have heard nothing of 

 Col. Warren to this day. Before making 

 this tiansaction public, 1 iiave waited for cor- 

 loborative evidence, and in c-oiidudiug luy 

 testimony beg to ask if such acts are not 

 doiiljly intamous from the fact 'hat they must 

 inevitably annoy and embarrass an upright 

 and honorable man /" 



Several complaints of a like character, from 

 persons in this Slate, have been made to us, 

 Iiy well known and responsible persons, 

 and if California and the publishers of papers 

 devoted to the high calling of the farmer, 

 have got to rest under an obloquy irom the 

 villainous transactions of any one man or 

 linn, it is about time to ventilate tlie matter. 

 We should have published a few facts long 

 ago, as an honest warning to the people, 

 but for the advice of friends, wlio told us 

 tliat our motives would be impugned, and we 

 had birtlcr not dirty lUlr lilu^crs with the sub- 

 ject. 



The elegant plant stand and bell- 

 glass fernery which we illustrate this month 

 is certainly a ])retty oniauient for a sitting- 

 room, and the window bracket for a pot and 

 hanging-basket is also. These can be found 

 at Mr. Mitchell's flower store, S.an Jose. 



Our readers will find Dr. Scott's ar- 

 tilce in this nunitier very worthy of contem- 

 plative reading. "Old Mortality" went 

 about with pious hammer and patient chisel 

 and renewed on the tombs of the old Scotish 

 Covenanters the names and dates that the 

 ruthless tooth of Time had well nigh erased. 

 It was a labor of love. He desired to renew 

 the names and virtues of those old worthies 

 to the living age. Would that some reform- 

 ing " Mortality" would rise up now in our 

 midst, and retouching the tablets of our hearts, 

 once more deepen and bring out in bold re- 

 lief the almost forgotten principles and pre- 

 cepts of the Fathers of the Kepnblic. Dr. 

 Scott's article arouses refreshing thoughts. 



Rust is likely to attack wheat fields 

 iu our coast counties in seasons when there is 

 much moisture, producing a rank, tender 

 growth of straw. Morning fogs, which wet 

 the growing grain and then clear u]) sudden- 

 ly, exposing the still wet fields to a hot sun, 

 also showers and sunshine immediately fol- 

 lowing, are favorable to the gerniinatiou and 

 growth of the fungus rust. As a preventive, 

 a bu.shel of salt to the acre, sown upon the 

 growing grain, is good. Two horsemen, one 

 each side of a field, with a rope stretched be- 

 tween them, can sweep a field of dew and 

 prevent the scalding from the hot sun which 

 seems to produce the rust. As a general 

 thing, when the rust once shows itself in a 

 field, it is safe to cut the wheat for hay be- 

 fore it is entirely ruined. 



Upon the Chinese Question, the 



people generally seem, at last, to have come 

 to their senses. Since this journal took the 

 held, we have steadily opposed Chinese im- 

 migration, believing it to be a curse nearly 

 exactly parallel in its effects to the slavery 

 that once existed in the South, and which we 

 opposed in the field, under arms. At one 

 time — before we were aware of the evils 

 that were fostered by Chinese servitude — like 

 many others, we only thought of the gener- 

 ous principle of oui* Government which in- 

 vites all peoples from all nations to come and 

 join us in our free institutions, and be free 

 with us, and become a part of us. But when 

 we found that Chinamen would never do this, 

 that they were antagonistic to our princijiles; 

 bringing their slavery here, and coming only 

 to get and carry away our wealth; when we 

 found that their cheap labor benefitted none 

 but their masters and rich men and monopo- 

 lists; wtis building class distinctions, degrad- 

 ing labor, and bolstering up aristocracy; that 

 no man or woman can compete with them 

 and live as respectable beings in a civilized 

 country should live; that their very contact 

 was contagion and degradation, without one 

 hope of bettering afiairs while they control 

 any species of labor jirices; that their labor 

 system discourages individual enterprises, and 

 thai, iustcad of making the country any rich- 

 er or bettor, or becoming freer themselves 

 under our Hag, they alisorb our wealth, make 

 the ))Oor poorer, discourage the iinmigration 

 of other nations and people as African slavery 

 did, and are, in every sense, in opposition to 

 general thrift and pi ospeiily, peace and lib- 

 erty and good will, we turned, as we now 

 are, in favor of the best interests of our own 

 race and civilization. 



Jottings. 



The way to help along an agricultural 

 paper is to talk for it and write for it. 

 Talk to your neighbors and friends; talk 

 to farmers, fruit growers and stock breed- 

 ers and others, and tell them of the value 

 of a good agricultural paper. That is one 

 way to help its circulattion. But there is 

 also another way, and an excellent way, 

 and that is to write for it. As you are at 

 work, or walking from field to field, 

 thoughts will flash into your mind, that, 

 if put into an agricultural jiaper, would 

 be of great help to it. Retain those 

 thoughts, and when you have a little 

 leisure, jot them down with pen or pen- 

 cil on paper, and send them to be pub- 

 lished. Semi them on postal cards, or in 

 the form of a letter, or in any other way. 

 Editors are always glad to get these jot- 

 tings, They give variety to the matter 

 and interest to the paper. Every reader 

 could contribute something of benefit to 

 somebody. — Rural Worlds 



A DuiiiELE Whitewash. — A whitewash 

 that will stand the exposure to weather 

 to which it is subject ou the lighthouse 

 structures of the Atlantic coast will cer- 

 tainly prove good for use in covering 

 fences and farm out-buildings in our eU- 

 mate, and those who have noticed the 

 appearance of the lighthouse structures 

 to which the Bureau reoii^e wash has been 

 applied, consider it but little inferior to 

 paint. The following is the direction 

 furnished by the Department for prepar- 

 ing and applying this wash, which can 

 ■of course be "tinted to suit any taste by 

 the use of ochre, umber, Spanish brown 

 or other ingredients : Slake a half bushel 

 of unslaked lime with boiling water, 

 keeping it covered during the process. 

 Strain it, .and add a peck of salt dissolved 

 iu warm water, three pounds of ground 

 rice put in boiling water and boiled to a 

 thin iiaste; half a pound of Spanish 

 whiting and a pound of clear glue dis- 

 solved in warm water; mix these well 

 together and let the mixture stand for 

 several days. Keep the wash thus pre- 

 pared in a kettle or portable furnace, and 

 when used put it on as hot as possible, 

 using either a painter's or a white-wash 



brush. 



— ^ — 



There is probably no article manufac- 

 tured in the United States that has ex- 

 torted so much money from the working 

 people in exorbitant price as the seeing 

 machine. For over twenty years there 

 has been a powerful combination which 

 monopolized and controlled the prices of 

 all first-class machines. Nearly oil pat- 

 ents on sewing machines have expired. 

 Yet the old prices are firmly adhered to 

 by the monopolizers who are not satisfied 

 with the millions upon niillicms of dol- 

 lars extorted from the poor people who 

 are compelled to purchase a sewing ma- 

 chine to gain a livelihood. Particularly 

 is this true iu large cities, whore the 

 working girls are compelled to toil from 

 morning to night to save and pay eighty 

 dollars for a sewing inachino, that should 

 not ill any event have cost more than 

 fovty and with a good manufacturing 

 profit at that. 



It used to bo a gin mill, then a bar- 

 room, then bar, then saloon, then sample 

 rotmi, then exchange, then parlors; now 

 it is a picture gallery. "Oo around to 

 the picture gallery, and take a drink of 

 the best whisky in the world," says an 

 advertisement. Very good. Wo expect 

 to see a groggery call itself a minister, or 

 a public library, or a home for the friend- 

 less, or au academy of scieuces, before 



wo die. 



» 



Kead ,he adveatiscmcnts and profit by thciu 



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